Marketing Power of Blogging

Blog and Blogging

This section discusses blogs and blogging, describes the main definitions, investigates the differences between business blogging and blogging for profit. Also, this part introduces blogging as a social media-marketing channel. Furthermore, this part describes the fundamental ways generating revenue from a blog and examines blog as a business niche.

1. What is a Blog?

In 2011, NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, tracked over 181 million blogs around the world. In modern society, almost everyone knows what a blog means.

Blog (weblog) is an online dairy with series of updates in chronological order, usually written in informal style. A blog gives an opportunity to be heard and to share experience. Blog topics differentiate from personal to professional. In recent times more and more companies make business blogs for informal communication with customers in order to get closer. (Zimmerman 2013.) Most companies have blogs for supporting a pre-existing venture but in some cases blogs can be made for a profit (Holtz & Demopoulos 2006). The moneymaking opportunities of blogging will be presented in the next chapter.

As Michael Liedtke of the Associated Press wrote in 2003 (Williams 2013):

“The online diaries known as Weblogs or ‘blogs’ seemed like a lot of inconsequential chatter when they surfaced a few years ago. But … what once seemed like a passing fancy has morphed into a cutting-edge phenomenon that may provide the platform for the Internet’s next wave of innovation and moneymaking opportunities.”

Blogging is a core component of social media marketing. Social media is online services that provide two-way communication and information exchange. Social media marketing was currently used for customers’ attraction through online social media platforms where they naturally spend time. (Evans & McKee 2010.) A blog is a SM channel. The SM channels are divided in three groups: platforms, content and interactions. As was mentioned earlier the first group is social platforms, in other words social networks – Facebook, LinkedIn, Vkontakte etc. Social platforms are divided to personal networks and business networks. The second group is social content and the blogs refer to this group. Also this group includes: YouTube, Instagram, Flickr and more similar contents. The last group is social interactions such as: Twitter, Foursquare and etc. (Evans & Barton 2008.)

Most companies have a marketing strategy that includes online marketing. According to Zimmerman (2012), social media is a component of online marketing. Online marketing is a part of overall marketing. As was mentioned before, organizations use social media marketing for advertising and communication through the different kind of features that helps to get closer with customers, receive feedback and build brand awareness (Holtz & Demopolous 2006).

It has to be noticed that the usage of social media channels if free of charge. Some social media channels can make a profit for a company or user and blogs are not an exception. It means that blogging is a tool of social media marketing that can be used as a source of moneymaking in other word a personal business. The next chapter examines the concrete ways of generating profit from blogging.

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